Ghana: Man strangles 7-year-old before raping her corpse

It was all shock and tears in a court at Tema, when a man confessed to murdering a 7-year-old girl and sexually abusing her corpse afterward. The suspect, a 22-year-old mason's apprentice confessed that his actions came after he had smoked weed.

In his account, the accused Lucas Agboyie, aka Sympathy admitted the victim tried to escape but he pulled her back into his metal container befoe strangling and then raping.

On April 19, 2015, the victim Ruth Amankwah was sent by her mother to go buy bread with GHC 20. As she passed by the container where Lucas lived, he called out to her to pick up his towel which hung behind his house. When Ruth complied and brought his towel, the accused then told her he wanted to have sex with her which she refused. A struggle ensued between them which led to Lucas strangling the victim and defiling her corpse.

Meanwhile, the parents of Ruth worried about their child's apparent disappearance mounted a search for throughout their community until one person informed them, that Lucas was seen dragging the girl into his metal container. They found the naked body of little Ruth with blood oozing from her nose and mouth, but Sympathy was nowhere to be found. He was later apprehended and the case brought before the court.

In a court presided by Mr. Worlanyo Kotoku, the accused after narrating the story admitted he regretted his actions and added he did not know what led him to commit such an act, although noting that he smoked 'weed' before the incident happened.

The victim's mother and family members could not hold back their tears and sorrow as the accused narrated the events of the incident. As the confession unfolded, the other audience in the courtroom also could not hold back their tears, shook their heads.

Mr. Worlanyo Kotoku expressed his displeasure the stretched time of the court case stating that the accused's confessions have been consistent and that there was no need for the case to have taken this long. The sitting has been pushed to October 4. Some accusations brought before Lucas was that he used the girl for ritual purposes but so far these accusations have not been confirmed.